Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 177,589 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 824,888 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 177,589 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of CVS Health worth $48,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 16,744 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after buying an additional 1,715 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in CVS Health by 48.3% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 8,151 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 2,653 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,236,000. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter worth approximately $241,000. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on CVS Health from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price objective on CVS Health from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded CVS Health to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.48.

CVS Health Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CVS traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $57.75. The company had a trading volume of 6,263,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,149,185. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.29 and its 200 day moving average is $63.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $72.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $52.77 and a 12-month high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $91.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.41 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 12.72%. CVS Health’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.61%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is 46.75%.

CVS Health Company Profile

CVS Health Corporation provides health solutions in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Health Services, and Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services.